Both bedrooms (and thus all my painting except the bathroom) are finished! I love my new room – it is so soothing to wake up in the pretty green, and it looks lovely with the woodwork!
I bought a new Duvet cover (Martha Stewart for Macys) and I painted my headboard. Previously is was sort of oaky colored (my Dad made it for me, but he was ok with the paint – it was not nice wood.) The trunk was refinished for me by my Dad also (he is an antique refinisher by trade, mostly old trunks.) It’s a patterned tin trunk with green and copper… it goes so well in the room!
The fireplace screen I painted after determining that it was made of brass, not cast iron, so it was not black underneath the old paint. The paint claimed to be matte, but clearly it is not, so I only applied one coat to keep it from looking too new. It looks nicely old in person.
And my owls have a home at last! I bought these for a dollar at a thrift store last year.
I also bought curtains for this room and the guest room at IKEA this weekend, but I have not gotten around to putting them up. They’re just white sheers anyway, so use your imagination. I’m not really much of a curtain person, but I am even less of a blind person and these windows face the very busy street!
The guest room is also finished! The walls are slightly less bright than they look here, but they are very pretty. I also painted this headboard (it was a giveaway item we took, and it was a bright shiny fake brass finish before.) The wall to the left has several black and white photos, and I’m planning on adding a few more. This room also has a dresser and a desk, and it is pretty crowded, thus the lack of photos. It also gets the most light of any room in the house.
I hope you have all enjoyed my house painting pictures… there will be more when we do the bathroom (as soon as we sell the condo, which is taking forever… our real estate agent now wants us to paint parts of it, but I am not convinced that would make any difference.)
In knitting news…
I am knitting a parallelogram.
According to my swatch (and to others on ravelry with the same experience) this will blockout (perhaps it is a problem with the irish moss stitch?) even so… it is disconcerting, and it’s hard to measure my progress!
I am enjoying the stitch, which is nice and mindless. Mine is coming out quite small, but that’s ok with me – it will stretch, and I don’t want mine to be too big the way it seems many have been. Love the Colrain again… I had almost forgotten what a great knitting experience it is!
I bought the new Debbie Bliss knitting magazine this week. Let me say that I am not the largest fan of her patterns. She seems to believe that every pattern needs at least 2″ of positive ease, and I know this is not the case. But I love these three patterns, so in spite of some slight resizing being needed I bought the magazine.
I especially like that cabled vest thing, and I plan to make it (but not out of cashmerino aran.) I have wanted to make Juliet (the last sweater) but I could not bring myself to buy the book it’s in for one pattern. And the fair isle dress is lovely, though I doubt I would make it.
Most of the patterns here are from older debbie bliss books, so if you have some of her books I would use caution before buying this. Otherwise, at $7.99 I think it’s a good deal. Just be aware if (like me) you are on the *ahem* less busty side that you will not find much under a 35″ bust.
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 
That turtleneck vest is very cute! I might have to take more of a moment to check that book out. Someone else had blogged about it and noted that the picture of the dress, although it looks cute, isn’t shown in a way you can tell anything about how it hangs, the shape of the skirt, etc. which is kind of a bummer.
The rooms looks great! Such wonderful colors!
Wow- I’m really impressed with the bold colors of your walls!! They really ‘pop’! 🙂
My minimalist cardigan also biased like that but it definitely looks normal about blocking. Thanks for posted photos of all of your painted rooms – everything looks great!
I can’t tell you how much I admire you for choosing such bold colors. You’ve got great color sense!
Great bedroom photos! I agree on Debbie Bliss – I looked at the magazine when I saw it at Jo-Ann Fabrics and I decided to pass on it for exactly the reasons you described.
What a beautiful fluffy kitty! I love how you have been so bold with the colors of your house – it has made the whole thing have a jewel-box like quality. I agree with you about the D.B. ease problem – I am small-chested like you, and I couldn’t find anything in there that I felt would flatter me. I’m sure things could be modified… but who wants to go through that trouble!
Nice color in the bedroom. Very relaxing. Colors are an important part of he personality and can affect people in many ways. Hyper? Stay away from reds. Greens? Very relaxing.
i love the colors and the progress you’ve made on your house…
i bought the same magazine, and i love that last little sweater…i’m debating on making it my first piece of clothing…maybe….
Your house colours are so vibrant, looks fantastic!
Beautiful job on the rooms! The wall colors are lovely!
I’m loving all that color. We’re re-doing the living room and I’m so wanting color, but the DH likes plain white walls. ::sigh:: Plain white walls remind me of every cheap apartment I’ve ever had to live in. I want color. I don’t want walls that say, “Leave everything plain for the next tenant.”
Gorgeous colors! And yes, that vest is super cute. I doubt that magazine is available near me, so I will probably try to come up with my own pattern for this one:) Looking forward to seeing your bathroom color!
Your bedrooms are gorgeous. What wonderful mood-lifting colors. I agree with you about the Bliss mag. I haven’t bought many of her pattern books in the past year or so, so hopefully the next issue will have many that I do not already own. I love the dress, but know I would never get it finished. It looks similar to another fair isle pattern of hers that I actually have the yarn for already. Guess I had better get to that one first!
Hmm, if I made Juilet I would have st. st. for the “skirt” of the sweater with a garter st. border instead of just garter st.
With it being garter st. it is preaty heavy and not as pretty in the photo.
Your house is looking so beautiful. I just drool over the pictures every time you post.
I also bought that Debbie Bliss magazine, but I probably won’t make anything from it. There seemed to be an awful lot of nothing in it; lots of “here’s how I take my tea”, you know?
Your room looks amazing. I love the green.